I had a feeling in my gut that it was a bad idea, even from the start. That it would get us into some kind of trouble. I knew I should have just stayed at the flat and watched the light box that everyone called television. It would have been safer. I would have been enjoying the quietness of the night.

But no, I had to change my mind.

That werewolf is really good with her words, I’ll give her that. She made this excursion sound so sweet, so exciting. Exciting, yes, so it may be. I can feel my heart beating erratically in my chest that I’m afraid it’s about to jump out and run for its life. And my lungs, it burns with every breath I take as if I am breathing in my own flames with these weak human lungs.

How can everyone else live with this tiny body. It has not any capability to withstand much of any kind of force thrown at it. The flesh delicate as blades of grass and the bones, much like branches, easily break under pressure. Some of the veins that carry my precious blood show so clearly under the thin layer of my pale skin and I feel like one calculated nip could very well end my life. It was maddening how these humans care little for their wellbeing, riding in metal death traps of their own free will and running around with thin clothes that can’t shield the wearer from imminent harm. But the werewolf says this is the way life is now in the mortal realm, and so, I must follow their customs.

I feel like it would have been safer for me to have stuck close with the witch. She had more common sense than the lot of these beings I’m currently stuck at the very bottom of the body pile we had ended up in. The crushing feeling of my ribs right now is a reprieve from the burn my whole body was in earlier from the mad run we have done.

If ever there was a time I wished for my body back...

It all started earlier this afternoon. The witch was summoned for a new contract that has called for her aid. Yuri was not pleased after overhearing the news. We all overheard it. The message came in the form of a telegraph pixie that cared little for the company of the receiver and began retelling the message before flying out the open window. Jessica gave the silent room a sweep of her eyes before she sighed, muttering under her breath. Yuri was off the couch and pestering her as she moved about the flat.

We had theorised that it was this questionable bond they shared, (because really, a werewolf and a witch destined to be together? The fates surely had a good laugh as they decided this.) that made her uppity about the whole arrangement. Jessica seemed to find the thought of the werewolf to act as her bodyguard hilarious and waved it off. The action only served to infuriate Yuri all the more as she seems to think the blatant refusal of her constant offer to be the witch’s companion on the trip an absolutely stupid choice.

Yuri had spun tale after gruesome tale of the darker beings lurking in the woods. Hyoyeon, the weird girl, was not helping either of the two parties as she seemed to jump from one side to the other, randomly pitching in their cause. The tall fairy was mostly satisfied watching the whole ordeal unfold as she munched on a bowl of gummies she had prepared- which she was kind enough to share with me.

It was absolutely delicious, the pink-white, sugared domes and the sweet-sour coated worms are my favourite.

“What if a minotaur jumps you before you can pull out your stick? You’ll be a damsel’s in distress but without a hero or sidekick to fall back on!”

“Then I’ll be a pretty damsel. And though I will possibly be in distress, I will handle it. And stop calling my wand a stick!” Jessica ends, swivelling on her heels and aggressively jabbing Yuri’s chest with her index finger.

“You tell her Jessica!” Hyoyeon whoops from the side. Yuri shoots her a disbelieving look as Jessica brushes past her to continue gathering the things she needs.

“Why are all of you here anyway?” she huffs as she stuffs the first aid box she plucked from the small, shin-high table into the backpack. “Don’t you have someone else to bother?”

“Yuri promised me we’d be playing something called a play station that was attached to the television.” I tell her as I look over to the television. And honestly, aside from Jessica, Yuri and my two newly acquainted friends I had no one to bother.

Sooyoung snorts then throws a piece of gummy towards Hyoyeon’s open mouth mid-yawn. It startles the elf but instead of charging at the fairy in retaliation she starts snorting loudly in laughter and nearly chokes on the treat. Such a strange being.

Jessica shakes her head.  “Whatever. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Okay. Okay. How about this? We all go. I mean, Taeyeon needs to learn about the different places here in civilization. We’ll travel to the next town over, it’ll be a small adventure! And we’ll all protect each other in case something goes awry. It’ll be killing two birds with one stone!” Yuri offers, not giving up. Jessica ignores her and she plants her hand on my shoulder, leaning close to my ear so she could speak only to me.

“Look after them will you?” she squeezes my shoulder before straightening up and shooting an icy glare at the dark scowl on Yuri’s face. I’m pretty sure the scowl is directed at me.

“Don’t. Do. Anything. Stupid. I am not fixing the crap you get yourselves into.”

“Aw, come on, Sica. We haven’t done anything that bad.” Yuri complains, breaking eye contact. It’s only then I realise the small hairs on my arm were standing to attention at the murderous look. Good to know my instincts were still as sharp as ever.

Hyoyeon furiously nods her head in agreement. “Yeah. Besides, we’re like the mythical version of Charlie’s Angels. No one dares get in our way.”

“Who’s Charlie and how come he has angels?” Sooyoung asks over the loud arguments being tossed around, prodding my side to let me know she was talking to me. I shoot her an equally confused look.

“I haven’t been here that long. I don’t know even a sixth of their references.”

“No. No! Ground rules.” Jessica’s voice halts everyone’s talking over each other and we shiver at the sudden drop of temperature. I hate it when she does a chill spell to get attention. Not with this weak body. “You lot are not to follow me. I swear to God, I will freeze you where you stand if I see heads or tail of you. Secondly-”

“Can’t you stop it with the ice based spells? There are other mild offensive spells that are less frostbite inducing, you know.” Sooyoung complains as she rubs the side of her long arms to get heat back to her body.

“Secondly,” Jessica continues, glaring at Sooyoung, silently daring her to interrupt her again. The fairly meekly lowers her head and presses her lips to form an exaggerated pout- looking more like a sulking dog than anything. “none of you dolts dare go through my potion room.” She gives a pointed glare Hyoyeon’s way. The elf nonchalantly shrugs her shoulders.

“Lastly, don’t do anything stupid. Now, I don’t care if you decide to stay here or go out, but when I come back this place better look exactly how I left it.” She looks everyone in the eye, conveying how serious she was with this. “Do I make myself clear?”

A chorus of yeses fills the room. I feel like only half of us actually mean it. I look to Yuri and Hyoyeon, the duo exchanging glances and smirks that goes under Jessica’s radar. The witch was too distracted with going through her things.

“I’m leaving.” She says, grabbing her keys from the end table that held a small tree, the only thing that seemed out of place in the otherwise simple room, on her way out. Now that I think about it, Jessica’s flat looked like a copy of Yuri’s, sans the frames, mess of magazines and books in our shared flat. “Lock my door when you guys leave.”

“Don’t sweat it Sica. We won’t cause any problem.” Yuri calls out with a dangerous looking smile directed at me and Sooyoung. I do not like the look on her face.

Jessica wasn’t gone for more than a minute when Hyoyeon and Yuri jump to their feet. Caught off guard, Hyoyeon grabs me by the scuff of my shirt and drags me off the couch. When I attempt to wiggle out of my shirt she harshly pulls at the collar and slips an arm over my neck, locking me in place.

“Lighten up you old crone. We’re going on an adventure.” The elf chirps.

“I am not a crone. Let me go!” I struggle against her hold. The elf is a lot stronger than she looks. I hate this weak little body.

I could hear grunts and squeals from behind me which I’m guessing was Yuri trying to get the upper hand on Sooyoung. I hope that the fairy had the brains enough to get away or at least hinder the two mischief makers from doing something Jessica deemed was stupid.

“Okay, okay. I give. Please, have some respect for the treats. Put the bowl down. Gently!” Oh My God, this fairy is useless!

“Relax you two. We haven’t even done anything yet.”

“Yet.” I scoff, turning my head as much as I can to shoot a look at the grinning Yuri. “You’re putting on that look again. The same one you wear right before getting into some kind of trouble.”

The cheeky look on her face pulls up a tad brighter and she chuckles. “Now you’re getting the whole ‘reading people’s intent by their expression’. See, Taeyeon, you’re learning!” Hyoyeon lifts her choke hold and pushes me by my shoulder. I stagger forward and Yuri intercepts my crash course and pulls me up to face her. She gives me a pat on both my arms, her eyes glinting. “Now let’s go on an adventure and teach you more along the way!”

As exciting as that sounds, I doubt that was the only thing on her mind. “But Jessica said not to follow her.”

“Yeah. Shouldn’t we follow her rules?” Sooyoung says, though right now she doesn’t really sound all that convinced that we should.

“Rules.” Hyoyeon scoffs.

“Rules are made to be broken!” Yuri agrees, high-fiving Hyoyeon without looking. Their palms don’t quite connect and Yuri ends up giving Hyoyeon a hard slap to her chest instead. The elf startles but then starts laughing soon after, finding the situation funny.

“They were made to be followed. Nothing is made to be broken.” I argue.

“Uh, piñatas.” Yuri challenges, rolling her eyes.

“Glow sticks.” Hyoyeon chirps.

“Karate boards.” Yuri adds.

“Spaghetti when you have a small pot.” Sooyoung unhelpfully pipes up. I thought she was on my side. I send her a look and she grins back at me sheepishly, mouthing an apology.

“Besides, aren’t you curious to see the world outside?” Yuri pulls me along to the window overlooking the street below. “There’s a lot more to learn about the modern world when we’re actually going around, you know? Newer sights to see, scents to smell, sounds to identify, and also, possibly, food to taste! There’s a huge new world out there, and we’ll be missing out just staying here.”

God, the gifted tongue of this werewolf. How could she make it sound so good?

I sigh in defeat. Really, if you can’t beat them… “Fine.”

“I shouldn’t have listened to you.” I hissed at the first person piled on top of me. “How could you anger a bunch of pipsqueak brownies?” How humiliating this is. An elf on top of a gluttonous fairy, on top of a skinny looking werewolf, on top of me- Me! a puny, humanized dragon- hiding behind a rubbish bin in an alley from a bunch of miniature, furious, brownies- or are they boggarts now? Absolutely ridiculous!

“Don’t blame me.” Yuri hisses right back. “It’s Sooyoung’s fault for stealing their families’ offering.”

“It was just sitting right there. Can’t blame me for sneaking a taste or two.” Sooyoung defends herself, bits of crumbs from the sweets she had swiped falling onto the ground beside my head.

“You took the whole offering.” I growl a little louder.

“Quiet!” Hyoyeon snaps at us and soon after I hear the tell-tale pitter patter of small feet growing closer and closer. I tense and go as far as holding in my breath, not that I can hold much with the weight of three people crushing my ribs. It’s beginning to hurt and making it harder from me to keep conscious. My face feels like all the blood has rushed up there, as if their combined weight is pushing it all up until the top of my head explodes violently, like a squished sachet of ketchup.

“Please..” I gasp with the last of my breath. “get off me.”

“Sorry Taeyeon.” I feel Yuri’s hand going on top of my head to pat me. I growl under my breath as I can do nothing much else. “We would, but we’re kind of hiding right now.”

“ it up!” Hyoyeon hisses. Easy for her to say, she wasn’t stuck at the bottom being crushed to death.

“I’m…. dying.” I squeeze out. Mentally, I pray to whoever divinity from above was listening for mercy. I can take no more of their combined weight.

And as if my prayers were heard the tapping of feet gradually tapers off into the distance.

“Well… that was anticlimactic.” Hyoyeon mutters. I don’t care much for their thoughts as I greedily heave in the much-needed air as soon as their dead weight lifts off.

“What exactly are brownies anyway? Are they actually sub classes of goblins or fairies?”

A snort. “Please, don’t lump me in with those pathetic, people pleasing, dunder brains. If anything they’re more like pointy ears there.”

“They are not elves. We are higher class intellectuals compared to those leeches.”

I am pulled up to my feet by my armpits. I lift one side of my lips in gratitude, baring my dulled choppers at the grinning werewolf and receive a pat on the head in return. “Now, now, kids, shouldn’t you guys be glad that we didn’t end up at the other end of a curse?”

“Can they even cruse anyone?”

“They can, nothing too complex but it’s annoying. I guess it’s a given since they’re too stupid that they get offended at getting paid for their work.”

“You’re stupid, but you can whip up a complex curse.”

“Your face is stupid.”

“Your existence is stupid.”

“You’re stupid, stupid.”

“It’s like the pot calling the kettle black.”

“Girls, cut it out.” Yuri gets in between the two, forcing them to part from actually butting heads with each other. Sooyoung’s face scrunches like she had smelt something bad whereas Hyoyeon looked to be enjoying the whole thing with her little smirk that mirrors Yuri’s mischievous ones. I see clearly now why they’re friends.

“Fairies or not-“

“They’re not fairies!” Sooyoung interrupts testily, seething, still glaring at the elf sticking her tongue out childishly.

“That’s why I said ‘or not’.”

Sooyoung’s glare redirects to Yuri. She points at Yuri’s face, her hand shaking as her face turns a little red. “They. Are. Not. Fairies!”

Yuri raises both her hands up and takes a cautious step back. “Okay, chill Soo. They aren’t fairies.” It’s only then that Sooyoung drops her hand and huffs.

“So..” I start, mentally slapping myself a second later when three pairs of eyes fall on me. “what are we going to do now? I think we lost Jessica and I don’t think those boggarts would be dropping the hunt so soon.” Nasty things don’t give up quickly. The last time a boggart found my treasure it wouldn’t leave without a fight. With my old body it made chasing it off an extremely laborious task and I wasn’t about to melt any of my treasures.

“We can always fight it. There’s like four of them, one for each of us.”

Sooyoung scoffs at Hyoyeon’s idea. “Those asshats aren’t exactly easy to beat. They get too wild when it comes to food and can cast their annoying curses. Curses that’s hard to reverse by other magik, mind you. Or have you not been paying attention when you were taught this as a child?”

Hyoyeon plugs her ear with her ring finger, gives it a bit of a twirl before pulling out. “Jesus, you sound like my mentor. He put a class to sleep faster than any potion could.”

Yuri snorts. When Hyoyeon put up a hand Yuri was more than happy to deliver a hi-five, sniggering at the incredulous look Sooyoung gave them.

“You guys are unbelievable, right Taeyeon?”

I scratch the back of my neck. I’ve heard of classes where groups of children gather so that the older and wiser can impart their knowledge onto them. It sounded like a lot of fun, yet at the same time tedious. “I’ve never been to a class.”

“Lucky you!” Hyoyeon laughs, slinging her arm around my shoulder.

I shrug it off, stepping closer to Sooyoung to keep away from the trouble makers. If the worst comes to the worst, I may be able to ignite Sooyoung’s rage and redirect it. I hope. This task would have been easily handled if one of us actually knew what we were doing.

“Okay. We’re going this way.” Yuri suddenly announces, walking directly where those boggarts had left to. My senses may be muted but I wasn’t entirely deaf.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“Taeyeon’s right. I’m pretty sure those little imps went that way.”

“They’re not imps. They’re boggarts.” Hyoyeon corrects, much to Sooyoung’s displeasure. She then moves up to Yuri’s side, slinging her arm around her shoulder. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

“Are you daft? I told you those boggarts went that way.”

“Well, genius, if they went that way they wouldn’t be heading back the way they came. Safest bet is this way.” Hyoyeon patiently explains as if we were little children who didn’t know anything. To be honest, I definitely didn’t think of it that way. “And I have a feeling wolfie here found her mistress.” She adds, reaching to pinch Yuri’s cheek.

Hyoyeon’s hand is swatted away and she’s shoved off Yuri. “She’s not my mistress. She’s my mate. I’ve a sworn duty to protect her regardless of if she asks me or not.”

“Testy. Hey, if she wasn’t your mate would you still do this as part of that contract that’s ending tomorrow?”

Yuri’s eyes narrows at her, head cocking to the side. “How do you know it’s ending tomorrow?”

Hyoyeon gave a half-assed shrug. “Jessica and I are tight. We go way back… Also, I help write all of her contracts.”

“You son of a-“ I’m impressed by the limberness of the elf. She had ducked the fist flying at her face in inhuman speed and dodged the following attacks that surely would have killed a mortal. Yuri’s eyes had lightened to a soft amber glow, a tell-tale sign of her wolf taking control. Her nails were beginning to look more like claws as she swiped through air, relentlessly chasing after the flighty elf. To make matters worse, we were out in the open where anyone can see, and with the ruckus they were making…

“Guys, stop. You’re going to get caught!” I plead but wisely stay far enough away from the deadly swipes. Hyoyeon chuckles as she runs up a wall, using it as a platform to sail over Yuri’s form and narrowly avoid being grabbed from mid-air.

“Yuri, you’re beginning to change! This is exactly the kind of trouble Jessica was talking about.” Sooyoung groans as she watches helplessly beside me. Her words seem to pierce through Yuri’s sudden bout of rage as she stops her chase, heaving heavily where she stands as she stare down the both of us that elicits a deeper, throatier groan from the fairy as she shields her eyes with one hand. “Don’t look at me like that. You know I hate the vibe you put out when you do that.”

When her wolfish appearance recedes she sends a glare over at Hyoyeon, who has now taken to sitting over the lower walls, just far enough away for Yuri to physically reach her without a running start. “This new contract better not be the same as mine. Or I swear I will rip apart whoever tries to get close to her then I will chase you down, to the ends of the Earth if I have to.”

“That threat would’ve held more weight to it had you said it mid transition.” Was Hyoyeon’s unimpressed counter. She manages to dodge the flying trash lid flung right at her torso, landing a few meters from us with an added flourish in the end. That girl really is something.

“You know I really think we should just go back. I’ve had enough running around this place.” Sooyoung voices out as she begins rubbing her abdomen. “Besides, I’m getting hungry.” And as if to back her up her stomach gives off a low growl, sounding much like a dying boar if you asked me.

I feel my own insides gurgling at the thought. Boar meat sound mighty fine right about now. “I agree. Let’s just go back, please?”

“But we’re close!” Yuri argues. She looks out to the street the boggarts left through, her left leg tapping on the floor agitatedly. “And Sooyoung, you just ate those brownie’s.. er.. boggart’s offering. How are you still starving?”

Sooyoung scoffs. “Three pieces of brownies? Are you kidding? That’s nothing.”

“She didn’t even share them.” Hyoyeon unhelpfully points out.

Sooyoung is quick to snap at her. “Shut up. No one asked you.”

A deep clearing of the throat has all of us stiffen on our spots.

We were doomed.

I should have stayed put.

These porcelain bowls were a unique thing to humans. Why is it so shiny and white for something used to expel excrements? After I found out that the porcelain bowl was not actually a watering bowl I never wanted my face to be anywhere close to it. But with nothing but a toothbrush to clean it with I certainly had no choice. The bowl was to be rid of all stains, but the brownish-yellow rim around the water proved to be harder to eliminate even with the help of those noxious substances.

“This is inhumane!” Sooyoung hollers not too far from where I was. She was on all fours, another toothbrush in her hand as she vigorously scrubbed at the tiled floor. Her red face looked like she was close to bursting, but knowing the witch was just a door away probably kept the toothbrush in her hand. “I can just magik this whole place clean, you know?!”

“Use it and I’ll have your magik temporarily sealed and have you clean the dumpster outside.” Came the levelled reply. Sooyoung suddenly pales at the threat, immediately bowing her head and renewing her scrubbing.

“Be glad you’re only doing the floor.” Hyoyeon quips from her scrubbing inside the shower stall. She had another toothbrush, a smaller one, to aid her and a bar of detergent. She pauses in her scrubbing, looking to the open doorway with pitying eyes. “Poor scrawny pup’s got a hell of a night in for her.”

Sooyoung and I both look to the silent room, simultaneously shaking our heads at the punishment Yuri faced. Supposedly, the both of us were let off easy, this being our first offence, or so Jessica says. We were still allowed the use of cleaning chemicals to aid our punishing task and were only subjected to certain parts. Hyoyeon- as apparently was no stranger to rule breaking- was a little treated a bit more harshly. She still had the kitchen to scrub clean afterwards.

Poor Yuri was forced to become Jessica’s slave. It doesn’t sound bad, unless you watched the whole process of how that came to be. A silencing charm was cast upon her following a stun spell that had the werewolf topple stiffly onto the floor. Sooyoung had screamed bloody murder and ran for the kitchen, and I’m not ashamed to admit to have scrambled for safety. Only Hyoyeon watched on from the side, completely open to any lashing, obviously used to it. An obedience serum was dumped down Yuri’s throat not long after.

Now, everything Jessica asked her she would do with no questions or dilly-dallying. It was completely medieval and I feel bad for her. Yuri really only wanted to look out for the witch, even if it meant breaking her rules. Jessica didn’t like that one bit. I shuddered at the scowl on her face when she found us quarrelling in the middle of the street, felt like she was already dealing harsher punishment in her thoughts. Now, she wouldn’t lift even a finger and if she needed to go somewhere Yuri would have to carry her there, chair and all. The last I saw of the pair Jessica was using the poor werewolf as a footrest.

I sigh, shifting to my knees and put in a bit more elbow grease to my cleaning.

I made a mental note to never anger Jessica Jung without preparing for the consequence.

Though, I had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time I’ll be subjected to her punishments.